The present invention belongs to a class of stud mounting clips that are useful in the construction of buildings, particularly light commercial buildings.
Many buildings are constructed with steel stud wall systems in order to achieve reduced environmental concerns, fire safety and reduced susceptibility to warpage, infestation, rust and rot. For a variety of reasons, it is often advantageous to construct these walls systems with connectors that permit a degree of relative movement between the framing members. Buildings often settle on their foundations once constructed, which can cause exterior walls to go out of plumb, in turn causing damage to the surrounding foundation and to interior structures such as floors. Exterior walls and frames, particularly of light commercial buildings, are often made from materials that have different coefficients of expansion than that of the structure's exterior sheathing. With exposure to extremes of temperature, gaps can be produced in the exterior sheathing panels if they expand or contract more than the framing, allowing cold air and moisture to intrude. Exterior walls of buildings are also subject to deflection from wind or seismic forces, and a degree of freedom of movement can reduce stress and prevent fracture of connected parts. And curtain walls (e.g., partition walls) are not designed to support vertical loads and must therefore by isolated from deflection of the primary load-bearing support structure of the building due to changes in live or dead loads carried by that structure.
A variety of slide, or slip, clips that permit relative movement between structural members have been made, but none have successfully optimized the use of material in the clips and the loads achieved by the clips. The slip clip connector of the present invention has been designed to achieve the maximum possible loads from the minimum amount of material, thereby realizing substantial savings, in cost as well as material, over the prior art.
The present invention also encompasses clips that include the same improvements to maximize load and minimize material use, but do not permit slip between members.